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“Don’t you worry about that. I’ll take care of it.” I have to suppress the urge to demand she tell me what happened. That’s all I want to know, why my mate stood before a group of necromancers. What they said.
Why they didn’t hurt her then and there. Was this a trap to lure me in?
It could have been, but at the end of the day, they want her. I can’t make this about me or even about the pack. Not just yet.
Dad comes charging out of the house when he sees us crossing the lawn. “What happened?”
As much as I hate to say it, there is no way around it. “Thorne will tell you. I have to get her inside. She’s… not in good shape.”
“I’m fine, really, I am.” Leaving the woods must have strengthened her because now she’s steady. She sounds more like herself, and her eyes are clear. Her wolf hasn’t calmed down much, but there’s no longer that manic frenzy.
“Thorne can still tell you,” I decide, pulling her along toward the house.
“You don’t have to baby me.”
“This isn’t babying you. This is making sure for myself you’re safe.”
Before we reach the front steps, she plants her feet. “I have to tell you what they said. What she said, I mean.”
“Who is she, exactly?” Thorne demands because, of course, he is listening.
“The witch. I don’t know her name. She lured me into the woods. I know it was stupid, but she was singing, and I followed the sound.”
“What were you doing in the woods in the first place?” There’s anger in my voice, but I can’t help it. I don’t want to, either. “Why do you insist on putting yourself in these situations?”
“I didn’t realize taking a walk in the woods was a dangerous situation. Maybe if the border was protected a little better—” She gasps, covering her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“No. You’re right about that.” I look at my brother, who gives me a grim nod. “We need to get to the bottom of why they were able to cross onto our lands.”
“If anything,” Forrest adds, “we can thank you for exposing that weakness in our system.” Dad’s soft growl tells me he doesn’t appreciate my brother’s attempt at being lighthearted, but that’s his problem.
“I really do not want to have this conversation out in the open.” As it is, when I glance across the street, I find clusters of wolves watching us. Obviously, they all heard the alarms, and they panicked. Dad goes out to comfort and reassure them while I tighten my grip on Lili’s waist. “Come on. I’m not hearing any more arguments on this. You’re coming inside.”
Though all I want is to take her up to my room so we can be alone, I also know that my desires don’t mean much. I need to think of the pack now.
“I would like a moment alone with her,” I announce, coming to a stop outside my father’s study.
“This involves the entire pack,” Thorne protests.
“I realize that, but at the moment, I want to speak to my mate. The rest of it, we can work out.” When it’s clear he’s only going to keep arguing, I begin to close the door. My brother stands behind him, staring holes into me, and I regret having to close the door on him, too. Some things he can’t be part of. Some things I need to handle on my own.
“I’m so sorry.” Lili sinks to the sofa, holding her head in her hands. “I was so stupid. And by the time I tried to run, I couldn’t. It was too late.”
“I need you to promise me, here and now, that you will never wander off on your own again. Don’t you understand the danger?”
“I do now,” she mutters.
“It shouldn’t take a close call to drill this into your head. Why isn’t it enough for you to simply listen to me and understand that I don’t say these things to hear myself talk?”
“I get it. I won’t make that mistake again.” She’s staring at the floor, her hands still clasping her head, elbows on her knees. I watch her rib cage expand and contract rapidly.
“You’re safe now,” I remind her, in hopes she’ll calm down.
“No, I’m not.”
“What are you saying?”
“I understand why they want me now. She told me so.”
My body goes rigid. Is it shock? Fear? Certainty? It might be a combination of the three. I’m not sure I want to hear what she’s about to say. Once it’s out there, in the open, there’s no denying it. There’s no taking it back.
I am to be the alpha of this pack. And there’s no room for an alpha to run away from the truth. No matter how much he wishes he could.
“Are you going to share it with me?” I murmur, slowly making my way toward her. Every footstep feels like I’m that much closer to the end. The end of what we had and of believing there’s a future for us. It’s my deeper wisdom, the wolf’s intuition, something of that nature. And there’s no avoiding it.
